VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $333.00 According to Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts remain moderately bullish: VeriSign has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, with four buy ratings and two holds. The average 12-month price target is $333, above the reported opening price of $282.07.
• Quarterly results slightly exceeded expectations: VeriSign reported earnings of $2.38 per share versus the $2.36 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 6% year over year to $434.6 million.
• Institutional ownership is substantial: Institutional investors own 92.9% of the company, with Berkshire Hathaway and BlackRock each establishing multibillion-dollar positions during the second quarter.

Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $333.00.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VRSN. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Zacks Research lowered VeriSign from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Wedbush upped their price objective on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $282.07 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $288.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $276.83. VeriSign has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a PE ratio of 30.59 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The company had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that VeriSign will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign's payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.74, for a total value of $1,005,642.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 385,027 shares in the company, valued at $117,333,127.98. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.16, for a total transaction of $144,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,511,918.20. The trade was a 1.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,432,587 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter worth about $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp increased its position in VeriSign by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,044,157,000 after buying an additional 73,583 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $699,916,000 after buying an additional 38,800 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $312,900,000. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc NASDAQ: VRSN is a global provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the systems that support the registration and resolution of millions of internet addresses worldwide.

VeriSign's services include domain registry operations, Domain Name System (DNS) services, DNS security and stability solutions, and related internet infrastructure. Its systems help domain name registrars, businesses, governments and internet users access websites and online services reliably.

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